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Communicating effectively…

by | Jun 4, 2025 | Genuine Hope | 0 comments

Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

Acts 17: 29-31

Earlier this week Patrina and I were discussing how people from other parts of the world and from different faiths reconcile what is ultimately true about God. For me, it all hinges on the last line from the passage above. The resurrection of Christ is the key factor of truth that points others to Christ. That is what Paul is communicating by using the symbols all around him in Athens.

One commentator stated that “Paul did not embrace their culture of idolatry in order to make people comfortable; instead he was aware of it and took time to understand it. By studying the inscriptions on the idols and reading their popular philosophies, he used both of those things to tell the people about Christ and to call them into a different way of life. By being aware of the ideas and stories within a certain culture, it helps us to better communicate the difference of living in the world and living as a disciple of Jesus.”

What if Paul had kept his message to himself or within the few local believers? He didn’t wait for them to come to his meeting, he took his message to them, but the real lesson is in how he communicated the message by relating the Gospel in a context they understood.

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